Oakland Athletics President Dave Kaval ending the Moneyball era with the move to Las Vegas: "We'll have money to play in the free-agent marketplace"
The Oakland Athletics have long been an organization that has been tight for money. It inspired the organization to value players in a different way, which can be seen in the popular movie "Moneyball."
They did not have the money to spend on big-name free agents and had to get crafty with their roster. This was all because the team had limited funding, but that is expected to change.
The Oakland Athletics' relocation to Las Vegas should open more revenue options for the team. President Dave Kaval told the Wall Street Journal that he expects the A's to change their limited-spending approach and be players in the free-agent pool.
"The entire Moneyball system that Billy Beane devised was based on the fact that we had limited resources," Dave Kaval said. "Now, with moving to Las Vegas and having higher revenue streams that we can invest on the player side, we can still use some of those techniques of valuing undervalued assets, but we'll have money to play in the free-agent marketplace."
Competing with teams like the New York Yankees or New York Mets is tough when you cannot spend the money they do. Kaval could not be more excited to revamp the organization.
The Oakland Athletics have traded away too many important pieces
The Oakland Athletics did not have many expectations coming into the season. They sit with baseball's worst record at 33-87, 39 games behind the Texas Rangers in the American League West.
Over the last few seasons, they have gotten rid of any player that could bring the team value. They once had Sean Murphy, Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and Frankie Montas, who are all on different teams now.
These are not the only players the Athletics have traded away. They have a history of doing this. Just look at legend Mark McGwire's career.
He was with the Athletics for 12 years, being named the Rookie of the Year and compiling nine All-Star Game appearances. McGwire was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1997, where his career really took off.
The same could be said for Scott Brosius, who was in his prime with Oakland in 1996. He was traded to the New York Yankees and had the best season of his career in 1998. He helped the Bronx Bombers win a World Series as the World Series MVP.